No two seasons are the same. That saying has never been so true as the climate becomes ever more unpredictable, directly affecting crops through heat, drought and water stresses and indirectly through higher disease and pest pressure.
This year could well be a case in point. Good agronomic practice is vital for crops to perform at their best. Increasingly that includes bioscience products to boost crop resilience when the chips are down.
Lancashire-based Agrovista agronomist John Ball now uses them routinely across a range of crops. “The aim is to help build on the basics to create a solid foundation to enable plants to perform to their potential,” says John.
The mention of bioscience products can be off-putting to a lot of farmers, he admits. “But there’s nothing really new in what we are trying to do – we’ve always known the importance of certain nutrients for healthy plant growth.
“What is new is the excellent formulations now available to us to make maximum use of those nutrients – these are high quality products that deliver results.”
All programmes in all crops are checked against sap test results to ensure nutrients levels remain within set parameters. “We therefore know exactly where we are at key points throughout the season,” says John.
John Ball
Cereals
Calfite Extra and Wholly K from Agrovista’s Innovation Range fit well together as a programme in cereals, says John.
Calfite Extra contains calcium phosphite to stimulate rooting and improve nutrient scavenging, along with L-PGA (pidolic acid) to enhance nitrogen use efficiency.
“In winter cereals I use it from early March, with trace elements as needed, to stimulate root development,” he says. “I also use it in spring cereals to get them off to a good start – it does give a rapid response.
“I think it will be absolutely key in winter cereals this spring. We had quite a wet back end so roots are not as strong as I would like, but there is plenty of top growth. “Lodging could be a problem so we need to build root structure quickly to make the most of what could be a high-yielding year.”
John will also use Wholly K to enhance root growth and further reduce the risk of lodging, applying it at GS31-33 as the plant undergoes stem elongation when demand for potassium is particularly high.
Potassium also plays an important role in water regulation. “Last year we experienced some very droughty conditions when we applied Wholly K. Access to soil potassium access was compromised by the lack of moisture in the ground at the time, so it made a massive difference.”
Wholly K also contains L-GPA, which helps raise bushel weight through increased nitrogen assimilation. “I started using it in spring-sown crops as they can struggle to fill grain adequately.”
Potatoes
Applying readily available phosphorus is important to ensure the potato crop gets off to a good start. John uses Luxor, another Innovation Range product, in the furrow to achieve that.
Luxor also contains humic and fulvic acids that stimulate soil biology to maximise nutrient availability, as well as L-PGA (pidolic acid) to improve nitrogen assimilation within the plant.
John introduces Calfite Extra from the rosette stage onwards. “The aim is to help push roots out, which in turn increases tuber numbers,” he says. “I recommend applying it every 7-14 days with a blight spray.”
The product’s calcium inclusion also helps with skin finish and produces more marketable yield when applied at bulking, he adds.
Another plus is that using targeted biostimulants like Calfite Extra and with Luxor in the nutrition programme can significantly reduce the need for inorganic phosphate fertiliser. This fits well with ongoing efforts to reduce phosphate levels in UK rivers, particularly in high-demand crops like potatoes, John maintains.
Wholly K comes into play to drive bulking, starting at stable canopy to improve tuber size and yield. “We also often see higher levels of water demand at that time, so Wholly K can help alleviate any stress. There’s not much irrigation in this area and what there is comes at great cost.”
Maize
Calfite and Luxor feature widely in John’s maize programmes.
“Maize has a high phosphorus demand early on, so building root structure is critical,” he says.
“Soil phosphorus indexes are often 4 or more where we use a lot of muck. We can’t apply fresh phosphorus in such cases so we have to mine what is in the soil as effectively as possible. We don’t want small maize plants turning purple, and they soon can when this nutrient runs short.”
Vegetable crops
Calfite Extra is used to improve rooting, but is especially useful for improving shelf life on lettuce, cabbages and Brussels sprouts.
John uses the product through the programme until harvest. “Later application prevents tipburn in lettuce and provides some frost protection to cabbage by strengthening cells,” he says.
He will also use Wholly K in cabbages at head formation to improve size. “It really does make a difference – you can see the improvement.”
Further details on our Innovation Range can be found here